Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Pittosporum tenuifolium cultivar Golf Ball.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Pittosporum, botanically known as Pittosporum tenuifolium, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Golf Ballxe2x80x99.
The new Pittosporum is a product of a self-pollination of an unidentified selection of Pittosporum tenuifolium, not patented. The new Pittosporum was discovered and selected by the Inventor in a controlled environment in Clive, New Zealand on Nov. 20, 1997, as a single plant within the progeny resulting from the self-pollination.
Asexual reproduction of the new Pittosporum by cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Napier, New Zealand, since Mar. 28, 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Pittosporum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Golf Ball has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment and cultural practices such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Golf Ballxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Golf Ballxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Pittosporum: 
1. Compact and roughly spherical plant form.
2. Vigorous growth habit.
3. Freely basal branching habit, dense and bushy plant habit.
4. Dark green-colored leaves.
Plants of the new Pittosporum differ from plants of the parent selection primarily in plant form.
Plants of the new Pittosporum can be compared to plants of the Pittosporum cultivar Little Squirt, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Napier, New Zealand, plants of the new Pittosporum differed from plants of the cultivar Little Squirt in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Pittosporum were more compact and more rounded than plants of the cultivar Little Squirt.
2. Plants of the new Pittosporum had shorter internodes and were denser and bushier than plants of the cultivar Little Squirt.
3. Plants of the new Pittosporum were more freely basally branching than plants of the cultivar Little Squirt.